Profile

My research expertise primarily lies within the areas of Islamophobia studies, and especially its gendered dimensions. Prior to commencing my role at the University of Leeds, I completed my PhD at Aston University and examined the nature of Muslim women's politcal participation in France and Belgium. Specifically, I analysed the factors that motivate, the opportunities encountered and the barriers faced by Muslim women in their francophone European political careers. This work was supervised by Professior Jim Shields (Aston University) and Professor Steve Garner (Birmingham City University).

Whilst completing my doctoral studies, I also worked with the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (Brussels, Belgium) to compile research related to young Muslim sentiment to the increasingly popular far-right Islamophobic narrative. This work allowed me to work directly with activists and NGOs, as well as politicians and policy makers.

Between 2010-2011, I undertook my Masters in Humanities with French at the University of Leiceser. During this time I opted to write my dissertation on Muslim women's political participation in France, under the supervision of Dr Nicole Fayard and Dr Rabah Aissaoui. Prior to this and whilst studying for my Masters I was a teacher of GCSE and A Level French, Spanish and Psychology.

Finally, I earned my undergraduate degree in 2009, aloso from the University of Leicester, in combined studies, specialising in Modern Languages and Psychology. Here, i began to develop a keen interest in Muslim diaspora studies, post- and decolonialism and the study of Islam and Muslims in francophone Europe.

Responsibilities

Managing Counter-Islamophobia Kit

Research interests

Within my role at the University of Leeds I am responsible for managing diverse aspects of the 'Counter-Isalmophobia Kit' project. The project brings together academic partners from the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and also our non-academic partner the IHRC in London. Very briefly, the project documents dominant Islamophobic narratives in each of these cases and also details effective counter-narratives to Islamophobia employed in each of the aforementioned contexts respectively. The project, which is due to be completed by December 2018, seeks to compile an actionable counter-Islamophobia toolkit directed at policy makers, politicians, activists and media professionals among others. You can find out more and follow the project by following this link: www.cik.leeds.ac.uk.

More generally, I am also involved in the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies within the Department of Sociology and Social Policy. Recent endeavours in this capacity include the planning, organisation and speaking at the #Islamophobia2017 Leeds lecture, which coincided with and reflected upon the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the 1997 Runnymede Trust report 'Islamophobia: A challenge for us all'. Find out more here: https://www.islamophobia2017.org.uk/

My research interests include the study of Islamophobia, and in particular its gendered dimensions, Muslim women, Muslim youth, Muslim political participation, 'European Islam' and decoloniality.

I am passioante about sharing my research knowledge across a varied range of platforms and with diverse audiences. In this regard, I have presented my work the European Parliament in Brussels on numerous occasions, at the Carter Center in Atlanta USA and also the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. I have also been invited to speak at various conference related to Islamophobia and appeared on both international and British media (radio and television). I am also developing a growing portfolio of written outputs, the links to these are available here https://leeds.academia.edu/AminaEasatDaas. I welcome any queries and would be happy to discuss my research interests further if required.